Catholic Homeschooling Mothers Retreat ~ Notes

Nuggets I want to remember from this courageous priest who spent 5 hours on Saturday nourishing our souls and validating our vocation...

~Parents are the first teachers of their children. It is their obligation, not the school's... not the priests to be their child's teacher. Church teaching tells us this. When we echo the Church, we echo Christ.

~ Mary is the most perfect catechist and she is Our Mother and role model. She is like the wooden handle of a kite. The kite that soars high represents Christ and Truth and the string is all that is tethered to the Truth and it wraps itself around the handle. If you let go of the handle, Mary....you lose the kite! You can not soar. Mary is necessary for Salvation.

~ There is a crisis in Catechises. Much of it is no longer in conformity with traditional teachings the Church has always held. Today it is more protestant...no devotions...too many laypeople, because we don't want to offend! The modern CCD books are confusing , the teachings soft.

~See the promises of the Rosary - http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/prayer/15promise.htm PRAY IT EVERYDAY.

~ Consecration to Jesus through Mary (de Montfort) and the Rosary are a vaccine, an antidote to the epidemic of heresies. Read Father Gobbi - article from EWTN on him, http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/MMP.htm

~ When we allow errors and impugnity for those errors, we deny and make little of the martyrs who shed their blood for just one article of the faith!

~ Pray for priestly courage. They are like the apostles before pentecost, hiding in the upper room and afraid. For the priests worried about Church's tax exempt status ,what is that compared to perhaps saving the life of one child...what is that to one life? Pray that priests and Bishops end their strange silence on abortion.

~ Pray for the Pope criticized for his courage on contraception and forgiveness of excommunications. These are days of persecution and schism within the church. A retiring Cardinal Egan now saying that he does not believe or support priestly celibacy, like that of Christ's, is telling of our times where inside the Church there is so much disobedience to the Pope and the Magisterium.

~ There is a remnant if we believe in the Holy Father as Chief Catechist, the role Christ gave him. Sr. Lucia of Fatima said, "he who is not with the Pope is not with God."

~ Fatima warned of those going to hell in droves in 1917 for sins of the flesh. Can you imagine how many now??!!

~ What a change in the church when only 25% believe in the True Presence! No wonder churches are closing - empty pews - diminishing vocations (except for traditional orders, seminaries)...why? Because pride blinds....

~ Fatima emphasized Eucharistic Adoration and reparation. The Fatima message was to prevent Truth decay. It is more relevant today. REVISIT FATIMA"S MESSAGES.

~ Faith is caught AND taught. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Practice what you preach. You can't catch doctrine, it MUST be taught! AND, actions do speak louder than words...are you embracing poverty if there's an expensive car in the rectory? What is your disposition to Confession? Do you go regularily and often...encourage it?!

~ Mary is the perfect model, a living catechism. Prayer is at the heart of the Holy Rosary, the catechism on a string. It is Christocentric...you say Mary, she says Jesus. Mary leads us to Jesus. Fathers should lead their families in daily rosary as the primary vehicle of Catholic education. If you do it while they are young, it will be like breathing air to children...LEARN THE WISDOM OF THE SAINTS. In the rosary it is the mysteries we must meditate on and the background music to them are the Hail Marys and Our Fathers. No more potent prayer than the Rosary; it is transforming in it's efficacy.

~ There is a great tribulation and persecution but trust God, say your prayers, don't be worried about the future. Remember there will be a 1000 year reign of Christ and peace on earth. God will renew the Church and the face of the earth. God ALLOWS everything. The Church, as Christ's body, is going through a crucifixion. It will be abandoned, betrayed.... the Church must bravely face redemption.

~ As long as there is a Pope and you are with the Pope, the Church is still alive.

~ It's all a test of the faith. Read the signs of the times...socialism, communism. (Father is a former international banker and was not optimistic about the stimulus.)

~ Stay close to The Eucharist, Our Lady, The Pope - anchor yourself to these.

~ How can we support our Pope and his efforts on Summorum Pontificum? The Pope sees shortcomings in the Novus Ordo Mass and sees the Traditional Latin Mass as a leaven...to raise the N.O. in reverence Ubi Petris....where the Pope is there is the Church. Be unfied with the Pope. (Taking his Pope's lead, this priest is now in training to learn the rubrics of the Latin Mass.)

~ Communion...where is the unity? We're divided. Some stand, some kneel, some on their tongue, some on their hand . What is recieving and what is taking?? Only the priest can self communicate...at the Papal masses the Pope gives communion to those on kneelers and on their tongue. Watch and learn from the Pope, follow the Pope. In the Latin Mass the priests fingers are held together to show the utmost care of every particle of Christ in the Eucharist....the care can not be there in the particles when recieving in the hand...has belief in the Eucharist increased with communion in the hand and the priest not pinching his fingers together? Well 75% today do not believe that the Eucharist is Christ, but rather that it is a symbol.

~ Back to the congregation is a disordered phrase. In the ad orientam Mass we ALL face our Lord, the worship should be of God, not ourselves. Christocentric. Active participation is misunderstood, it means being drawn into the sacred and praying the Mass with the priest and offering ourselves. The priest is the one educated and consecrated to be the liturgy committee. He is the liturgy committee.

~ Why would anyone be adverse to the Old Mass? It produced saints. (It is the history of the Mass up until the last 40 years...was it "wrong" all that time?)

~ Be charitable. If you do not have love you are the noisy gong.

~ Be suspect when you hear "old school", "new school" TRUTH IS UNCHANGING.